Please don't rain on my dog

My dog dislikes moisture. She avoids the little puddles left by the sprinklers. She has to be strongly encouraged to step onto dewy grass. And if it's raining outside, well, she'll just wait, thank you very much.

This past week in South Florida, we've had monsoon-like weather. Our usual pattern in the rainy season is: dry in the morning, clouding up in the early afternoon, then thunderstorms between 3-6 p.m. Intermittent thunderstorms. Storms that feel like someone has turned the hose on at full force, pointing it directly at you for several minutes, followed by complete shut-off, until a few minutes have passed, and then repeat. For this reason, a good strategy to employ is the wait-it-out technique. If you are about to exit Publix with your cart full of groceries and find that it is monsooning, you can just wait it out. It will subside soon.

However, our usual weather pattern has been nowhere in sight. Instead, it's been raining all day, every day, for so many days I've lost track. This has made many aspects of life challenging lately, one of which has been getting our little fluffy cockapoo to go out.

I am the one who takes her out first thing in the morning. I open one sleepy eyeball to see her sitting at attention next to my side of the bed, staring at me in that urgent way dogs do.

"Okay, Daisy," I said this morning, then stumbled out into the darkness of the entryway, slipped on my dog-walking shoes, opened the front door, and stepped out under the cover of the overhang as Daisy trotted alongside me.

That's when we both realized it was pouring. Daisy stopped short and turned to look back at me.

"Nu uh," Daisy's look clearly said.

"Go ahead, Daisy," I urged.

She hung her head low, tail tucked down in misery, and slowly stepped out onto the path into the rain. She paused for less than a second, then turned around and trotted back under the eave to me without taking care of business. By this time, I had snapped out of my sleepy stupor and came up with the alternate plan of going  through the garage and walking out with her with an umbrella. Mission accomplished!

But a damp Daisy is an unhappy Daisy. So on behalf of all the soggy dogs and dog walkers of South Florida: Hey, rain! Enough already!